Strainer and method of making same



Oct. 17, 1944, M. RACHLIN 2,360,793

STRAINER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed May 5, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Oct. 12', 1944. M. RACHLIN 2,360,793

STRAINER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed May 5, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2\j/ d I Patented Oct. 17, 1944 This invention is directed. -to' aqroofgutter strainer of the typethat is adapted to be in! sorted in aconductor or drainpipeso .as (to: prevent debris in the gutter fromentering and clog ging the conductor pipe. 1 f v t so It is an object ofthe invention-to provide such a-"strainer made froma series of wiresthatare initially straight and are bent simultaneously to form a cagewhich is substantially hemispher ical; throughout its upper p'ortionfthelower portion of which is first formed into a cylinder and then into asegment of a cone."

It is not new to provide wire strainers,-but=in.

the past these havebeen formedby bending the wires and then-assemblingthe' bent wires." This is a tediousand costly-method compared" to: mynew method, since, by my method straight.

wires can be inserted inia' center member with a. 'minimum: of labor.Heretofore, in the. con-' struction of a strainer having eighteen:wires, it

was.- necessary to first bend. the: eighteen wires, individually, whichrequired eighteen operations.

It'was. then necessary to set the eighteen wires in, place, whichrequiredeighteen-additional 0p-.

erations and finally, the eighteen wires were secured in place, one at atime necessitating eightless cost than any strainers prior hereto. 1

A further object of'the-,-invention is to provide a novel. method-offorming roof' strainers from Wire.

; 'Io the accomplishment-foregoing and related: ends, saidinventiomzthen', consists of the means hereinafter fully describedandxparticularly pointed outin the claims.

The annexed drawings andtthe following de-.

scription set forth in detail-one'method and certain structure embodyingthe invention; such disclosed: method and means consti-ztuting;v hwever,

but. one of various mechani'c'al forms in which the principle of theinventionmay .be useda Insaid annexed drawingsz rs Q Figure 1 is a planviewof the centerjplatetand an individual ,wir,e.-: 7' v i ure- 2- is a-,plan'yview:takensfromo above of eerr further operations;Accor'ding'to1my invention, an eighteen wire strainercan be'made-byusing nine straight wires,"-thus reducing the'first by a singleoperation inasmuchas'flit 'i wonly necessary to lay nine wires in placeand then, in a singl'e pperation, bend the wires downwardly andoutwardly, whichseciir'es them'in place with respect to a center plateand ives the wires their final form. The eighteen wire strainer has beentaken as an arbitrary example and itwill be apparent, the larger thestrainer, the rnore wires;

strainers, the saving" will be proportionately greater. 'It is,therefora'a specific objecti'of this invention to greatly reducethe'riurnber'of 011-, eratlons heretofore required lto-Qform a wirestrainer.

' It is another object of this invention to provide various. centerplates for a roof gutter strainer.

of a strainer.

11; is a particular object o ifth nvention ta so-that in themanufactureof relatively large:

th 'wires inserted in, the center plate;

Figure 3 is applan view taken fromab'ove; of

- the center plate and wires. after." placement upon themale die, wi v rFigure iis a diagrammatic showing compris ing aiverticalelevationwithQparts in section showingthemale and female diesjust priorto the'major bending operation v 1 gure 5 is also a diagrammatic-view.and com the major bending operation v 'Figurefi is anelevation of thecollar.

'gure 7 is anzelevation .off the completed strainer. r

prises'v 'an; elevation, with partsein' section after number-ofvoperations by one-half. -I'h'esecohd' set of operations and the thirdset are superseded Figure 81s a horizontalsectio'njtaken on line I -8-8,of Figure v7, lookingidownwardlyr Figure-9' is a side elevationoitheflcenter plate of. Figure 1, (taken from thefright', hand side) Furelilis a plan view'of' a modified form of i ie-y j J f "Figure '11 isa plan view'oianother modification of the center plate.

Figure 12fis a side elevatiqnal 'view'of the center' plate shown inFigure 111 ut ,with the retaining'fing'ers shown in finalposition.Referring-now to the drawings and more particularlyto Figure'l, it willbe seen that I have provided 1 a center plate generally indicated at lwhich is "rectangular in general outline. This plat'eis made-from astripo'f material which is cut invrequisite lengths and then provided withopenings 2, 3, 4 and 5, the openings being located at eachlofthe-"corners ot 'the cut-off portion.

The,l plate-is'also provided withrecesses 9 and 1, since: this permitsii bending of the ears l'l, l2,l'3 and. l4'foriareasofi whl'ch' wi'llappear as first namedpair' and similarly, the plate is depressedslightly between such slits and the outer edges of the plate whichpermits ready insertion,

ed above the male die 24 has an interior, substantially hemispherical,cavity 23 and may also be provided with lands 45. These lands 45 areoptional and if used are intended to fit down between the lands on themale die 24. In some instances, it may be desirable to provide openings(not shown) in the female die so that the lands may project through suchopenings. The female die 20 has an upstanding leg 2| provided with aratchet surface 22 so that the same may be moved upwardly anddownwardly. The exact construction of the actuating mechanism does notform a part of this invention and has not of a group of Wires throughslits 6 and l and also permits ready insertion of another group of wiresthrough slits 8 and IS in such manner that the two groups cross eachother substantially at the center of the center plate.

Obviously, the wires A and B extending through the slits 8 and |9 are ina plane slightly below the plane of the wires'E and 'F which ext'e'ndthrough slits 6 and T, and it will be seen that substantially straightwires can easily be inserted, the number depending entirely upon thesize of the strainer. I

'Additional'wire receiving means are provided in the form' of openings2, 3, 4 and 5, and since the ears |2, l3 and I4 are pressed downwardly,the wires received in the openings extend in planes below the wiresreceived in the slits. The ears II and 13 may, if desired, be pressedalittle further out of the plane of the center plate than the ears l2 andI4, so that the openings 3 and 4 will receive wires in a plane below theplane in which the wires G and H extend. Thus it will be seen that nodifficulty is incurred in assembling the wires in four different planesand since the groups of wires extend in different planes, the assemblyof the; center plate and wires'is achieved simply and expeditiously. I

It is to be understood that the wires A and B or any other pair of wireswill not extend exactly as shown in Figure 2 and will, in allprobability, be spaced apart'at their ends so that they can be easilygrasped and pushed apart. -It is also to' be understood that a group ofwires may consist of a single wire or any desired number since thenumber or wires depends upon the size of the strainer and the length ofthe slits as well has the size of the openings in the center plate. 7

The method of manufacturing the strainer is shown progressively inFigures 1 to '7 inclusive.

Wires A and B are inserted through slits 8 and I9. Then wires E and 'Fare inserted through slits 6 and 1. After this, the diagonal wires C andD are inserted through openings 2 and 4 and finally diagonal wires GandH are inserted through openings 3 and 5. sertion is immaterial and inany event, the assemblage of center plate and wires is easily formed dueto the fact that the wires are substantially straight and the pairs ofopenings, whether they be slits or circular apertures, are located inslightly differing planes. The assembly of Figure 2 is. then placed upona male die 24, shown in Figure 3, and the wires are pulled apart so asto go over each of the upstanding projections or lands 36, 31, 38, 39,40,- 4|, 42 and 43.

It will be noted that each of the lands is provided with a central ridgewhich insures parting and spacing, of the wires in a. predetermineddesired arrangement. The. female die 20, mount- The precise sequence ofin been shown since there are many ways in which to move male and femaledie members toward each other. When the male die 20 is moved downwardlyto the position shown in Figure 5, the individual wires are bent into asubstantially U-shape and at the same time, the individual wires arebent so as to lie in radial planes which intersect at the center of thecenter plate. Stated in other words, the wires are bent down wardly andlaterally to form a cage, one portion of which is hemispherical and theother portion of which is cylindrical.

Referring now to Figurefi, it will be. seen 'tha I have provided acollar generally indicated a030,- this collar being in the formof aiU'and having legs 3| and 32 cgnnected by the small portion 33.

The leg 3| is longer than leg 32 and is crimped or grooved so as toreceive the wires A to H inclusive and hold the same relationship.

in Fig. 5; the collar 30 is placed upon the wires with the crimped leg3| uppermost. The various wires are placed in the depressions or crimps'29 and the ends 34 and 35 are reversely bent over the connectionportion 33, which completes theformation of the strainer. Due to thefact that since each wire will remainin a groove and the collar cannotmove up "or down on the :wiresv because the legs 3| and 32' havedifferent diameters, In addition to completing the assembly,-

the collar assists in formin a strainer that is usable in various sizesof conductor pipes since' the construction of the collar; causes an"inward;

tapering of the lower portion of the strainer.

Referring now to the modification shown. in Figure 10, it will be seenthat this center plate generally indicated at 50, is somewhat similar tothe center .plate shown in Figure 1. employing the slits, the centerplate has a full groove 55 and another groove 56 at right anglesthereto. The groove 55 lies in a plane abovethat of the groove 56 sothat wires, when received in the grooves will have no difiiculty inbeing crossed. The center plate 50 is provided with ears 5|, 52, 53 and54, which are apertured in the same manner as the center ,plate I. Thestrainer employing the center plate 50, 'isfase sembled by merelyplacing wires in groove 55, then a second set of wires in groove56,after which wires are inserted in the apertures of the ears 5| and53, and the final setfof wires are'inserted through the apertures inears 52 and 54: and this final step maintains all of the {wires in snugengagement with the under surface of the center plate. The basket orstraineris then in uniformly spaced As the strainer is taken from thedie, as shown Instead of- 2,360,793 iormedlin 'exactly the same manneras set forth withrespect-to center plate I.

ztrRieferringnow. to the further modification shown iinFigures 11andi12, this will be seen to comprise whatmay be termed a bottom plate Bl-"and an'upperplate 67. The bottom plate is provided with any number ofears as may bedesired, the particular-modification shown, -emb'odyingfour ears 62, 63, 64 and B5. Straight wires are placed so as to extendradially from thecent'er of the bottom plate 6| and-s as to lie upon theupper surface In-of the bottom plate 6|. The top plate 61 is then placedover the wiresand the ears are bent upwardly and over' assh'owninFigure'12, to retain the wires in their radially alinedpositions. Afterthis is done, the

cbm'posite unit' is placed in the press shown inn-sure 4,whichnpon'actuation imparts the general configuration shown in Figure 7.It is td be'particularly' noted that the upper plate 66 liasa concavedownwardly directed portion to accommodate the wires where they crossatthe center of the plate.

The strainer with any preferredformof center' plate, is now ready forinsertion in the conductor pipe and will effectively bar debris, which.

ordinarily collects in the gutter, from entering the conductor pipe.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that 'I have provided awire, strainer which is easily assembled and easily bent into; shape duetofthe fact that it is onlynecessary toemploy 'a center plate, andstraight wires. The provision of parallel slits of differing elevations,permitsready insertionof the straight wires in the center plate and alsoanchorsv the Wires at a commomcenter so that the same may be readilybentinto a cage type of strainer. Itwill also beg noted thatI-haveprovided a unique form cit-center ,plate which is inexpensively formedandswhich can be used with various sizes of strainers, :1 Lastly it willbe noted that I- have provideda novel collar that can be easilyassembledzwith the wires and which will maintain the-wires-inaccuratelyspaced relationship. The

collar, being a U-shaped member andihavinglegs-of differentdiameters-forces the free'ends of the strainer radially inward'or towardeach other so that assembly of thecollar with the wires of the strainereliminates one bending operation and yet insures permanent spacing ofthe wires of the strainer.

'Referring now to the object set forth at the beginning of 'thisspecification to wit, reducing the :number of operations inthemanufacture oi a wire strainer,'it will be observed that the totalnumber of operations required to forman plate since I have shown threedifierent forms andothers will be apparent, once the broad principles ofmy invention are comprehended. The various types of center platesreadily accommodate straight wires and will retain the straight wires ina precise radial relationship after the wires are bent into their finalform. This eliminates the heretofore costly operation of first bendingthe wires and thensecuringthe wires to. some central member- It isbelieved to he obviously, far lessdifiicult to merely lay straight wiresupon a central receiving member and then bend thewires in a simple,Singleoperation.

Other-modes of 'applying the principle of my invention may beemployedinstead of the one explained, change being, made as regards themeans and the steps hereindisclosed, provided those stated by any of thefollowing claims or their'equivalent be employed. 1

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. An'article of the character described comprising acenter' plate, aseries of wires and a collar, each of said'wires extending into saidcen' t'er plate and out of said'centerplate, said series of wires" beingdivided into groups, one of said groups extending through said plate atone elevation,- and another group extending through said centerplate' atdifferent elevation. y

2. A center plate, for a roof gutter strainer, comprising ametallicm'ember having-two pairs of slits and four openings, one pair.of said slits extending at right anglesto the other pair, and

each of said openings being located at a corner of said member. d r j d,3. A center plate, fora roof gutter strainer, comprising a metal-lic'member having two pairs of slits and four openings, one pair of saidslits extending at right angles to the other pair, and eachuof saidopenings being located at a corner of said member, said one pair ofslits being located in still another plane, wherebya series of Wirescan-be inserted through said member,

45A method of forming a roof gutter strainer, which comprises providinga center plate, slitting said plate, forming openings in said plate,inserting grou-ps 'of WiI'ES'iIl said slits and in said openingswithonegroup crossing another group at a common point, bending the wires ofeach group slightly apart, then bending all of said wires downwardly andinto planes radiating from said common'point. d

5. A method offforming'a roof gutter strainer,

which 'comprisesproviding a centerplate, slitting" said plate,'formingopenings in said plate, in- I sertinggroups of wires in saidslits and in said openings with one group crossing another group at acommon point, bending the wires'of each group slightly apart, thenbending all of said wires downwardly and into planes radiating from saidcommon point thus causing each wire to as;

sume a substantially U -shape andfinally securing said wiresin spacedrelationship with the ends thereof drawn radially inwardly, 6. Astraineradapted to be inserted in a conductor pipe toprevent debrisin-gutter attached of hemisphere in spaced relationand being conto saidpipe'from enteringsaid pipe, said strainer comprising a series of wiresbent intothe form tracted to a diameter smaller than that of saihemisphere.

' 7., A method of forminga roof gutterstrainer,

which comprises assembling a multiplicity of wires in a flat plane witheach of said wires secured at its mid-point,then bending said wires intoa cage having a hemispherical upper portion and a cylindrical lowerportion, then contracting said cylindrical portion and securingwires ofsaid cage in radially spaced planes.

8. A center plate for a roof gutter strainer made of wires comprisingmeans to receive substantially'straight wires extending in onedirection,

means to receive substantially straight wires extending in anotherdirection and means to receive other wires extending angularly withrespect to said first and second named wires.

9. A center plate for a roof gutter strainer made of wires comprisingmeans to receive substantially straight wires extending in onedirection, means, to receive substantially straight wires extending inanother direction and means toreceive other wires extending angularlywith respect to said first and second named wires, said first and secondnamed means comprising grooves in said plate and said last named meanscomprising apertures in said plate.

10. A center plate for a roof gutter strainer made of wires, comprisingmeans to receive substantially straight wires extending in onedirection, means to receive substantially straight wires extending inanother direction; and means to receive other wires extending angularlyWithrespect to said first and second named wires, said center platehaving a lower part and an upper part, one of said parts being concave,thus permitting all of said wires to cross at a common 11. An article ofthe character described comprising a roof gutter strainer, having acenter plate, a series of wires and a collar, each of said wiresextending into said center plate adjacent one edge thereof and out ofsaid center plate adjacent an opposite edge, and being free to form thestrainer structure, each of said wires having a generally U shape andextending upwardly then through the center plate and then downwardlywith the free ends of said wires held by said collar.

12. An article of the character described comprising a roof gutterstrainer, having a center plate, a'series of wires and a collar, each ofsaid wires extending into said center plate adjacent one edge thereofand out of said center plate adjacent an opposite edge, all of saidwires extending substantially radially from the center of said centerplate, and, being free to form the strainer structure, each of saidwires having a generally U shape and extending upwardly then through thecenter plate and then downwardly with the free ends of said wires heldby said collar.

13. An article of the character described comprising a roof gutterstrainer, having a center plate, a series of wires and a collar, each ofsaid wires extending into said center plate adjacent one edge thereofand out of said center plate adjacent an opposite edge, all of saidwires extending substantially radially from the center of said centerplate and being held in radial alinement by said collar, said collarbeing located in a plane below that of said'center plate, and being freeto form the strainer structure, each of said wires having a generally Ushape and extending upwardly then through the center plate and thendownwardly with the free ends of said wires held by said collar,

14. An article of the character described comprising a roof gutterstrainer, having a center plate, a series of wires and a collar, each ofsaid wires extending into said center plate adjacent. one, edge thereofand out of said center plate adjacent an opposite edge, said centerplate being provided with a multiplicity of oppositely disposed openingsto receive said wires, and being free to,

iprising a roof gutter strainer, having a two part center plate, aseries of wires and a collar, each of said wires extending into saidcenter plate from one edge thereof and between such two parts and out ofsaid center plate from an opposite sedge, said center plate having meansassociated therewith to retain said wires between such two parts each ofsaid wires crossing al1 of the remaining wires in said series, the freeends of said wires being held by said collar.

16. A method of forming a roof gutter strainer, which comprises thesteps of inserting a multiplicity of pairs of substantially straightwires entirely through a center plate, 50 that said wires extend in aflat plane, then separating the free ends of said wires, then bendingallof said Wires in a single operation, out of said fiat plane and into theform of an open ended cylinder having a rounded end and finally securingsaid wires with the free ends in spaced relation.

17. A method of forming a roof gutter strainer, which comprises thesteps of; forming a center plate with intersecting wire receivinggrooves and alined apertures, having axes that intersect with theintersection of said grooves at a common point, assembling amultiplicity of wires with said center plate, by placing some of saidwires insaid grooves and inserting sonfe of said wires in said I saidwires cross at a common point, then bending all of said wires downwardlyand into planes radiating from said common point, in a singleoperation,,out of said fiat plane and into the form of an open endedcylinder having a rounded end and finally securing said wires in suchbent condition.

18. A method of forming a roof gutter strainer, which comprisesassembling a multiplicity of wires in a flat plane in groups, securingeach of said wires at its mid-point, arranging the free endsof saidwires equidistantly, then bending all of said wires in a singleoperation into a cage having a' hemispherical upper portion and acylindrical lower portion.

MAURICE RACHLIN.

